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Mitt Romney has bragged about being a super-smart
businessman. He has created businesses and saved
failing ones. So why would someone so savvy
about money spend 50 to 75 times more money
on a campaign than he could make on the job
as President? To me, that’s power and dollars,
but no sense. How can he be elected with just
that premise to look at? He hasn’t told me much
more in all the debates.

Alan Kinsey

West Des Moines

Pets after death

In a recent cover story (“Pets After Death,”
Feb. 23) Amber Williams stated, “All things
eventually die — one way or another. Death.
It’s a hard fact of life. It’s so sensitive
of a subject, in fact, that some folks in the
animal industry, such as shelters, veterinary
clinics and animal testing facilities, are sometimes
reluctant to divulge the unsavory details of
their business if they are not required by law.”

Iowa state law requires city pounds to report
intake and disposition of stray pets. ARL Iowa
operates the Des Moines city pound under contract,
and both ARL Iowa and the city of Des Moines
refuse to comply with the law and will not report
how many stray pets are returned home, killed,
and so on. One interesting fact, the contract
between the city and ARL Iowa requires all unclaimed
stray pets to be turned over to ARL Iowa. The
city simply will not transfer pets to other
licensed animal welfare groups.

In my research, I discovered that the current
Chief Humane Officer for the city previously
sold live, stray pets from the pound to research
facilities. Once ARL Iowa took over management,
the city stopped disclosing what happens to
stray pets, though it claimed to have stopped
these research sales.

It’s clear from the contract that most pets
are transferred to ARL Iowa, but the city and
ARL Iowa refuse to disclose specific numbers,
as required by law.

Erich Riesenberg

Des Moines

Editor’s note: In response to this letter,
the ARL of Iowa said they are required to keep
records of animals the shelter receives for
the Iowa Department of Agriculture, but the
Attorney General does not consider that public
information. They also hold that “the ARL has
not ever and will not ever sell or give live
animals to research facilities,” which was also
confirmed by United States Department of Agriculture
and veterinary science animal testing clinics
in Ames.

Correction: Last week in the Best Of issue
(“Jackpot!” March 1) we mistakenly listed the
winner of “Best Party Event Transportation.”
The actual winner was Absolute Transportation,
1-800-712-8518, http://www.absolutetransportation.org.